How I Made Over $4,010.00 On My 7th Month Of Blogging

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This ” How I Made Over $4,010.00 On My 7th Month Of Blogging ” is my 5th income report. I have passed the 7th month-mark and my blog is growing faster in terms of traffic, email subscriptions, income, comments, and so many more. I truly cannot believe that I would earn money through blogging.

My intention in creating this blog was to simply chronicle and share my thoughts, experience, and a pinch of wisdom on personal finance. I didn't realize that my blog would grow fast in such a short time. As I said in my previous report, I am still testing things (i.e. write-up format, advertisers, and blog layout) to learn what really works best for my blog. Of course, in the process of doing this, I have made several blogging mistakes. This post contains affiliate links/ads. See disclosure policy.

Hi, everyone!

Welcome to my August 2016 income report. This is my monthly post where I show you how I made money, where the earnings came from, what I did and didn't do, what my triumphs and/or mistakes in blogging, and, of course, my monthly goals.

Starting now, I will include the top traffic sources and how many viewers who came from what source. You'll see that information in the infographic in this post. As you know, I like to be as transparent as possible. I believe it's necessary to show these traffic sources. Many thanks to those who suggested that I includem.

Previous Months' Blog Revenues

Before I go to the meat of my income report, I'd like to show you my income progression month after month. I compiled all my income reports for easy access and just to give an idea how I have been doing (money-wise) with my blog.

I credited my traffic and income upward trends to just several posts I published these past couple of months. I did not know these posts would be seen by so many people. I honestly thought that not a lot of people would even read these posts. I was proven wrong because I not only gained a ton of viewers but I also gained a hundred or so email subscribers. Here are my most read/visited blog posts for the past month:

Why Blog My Income Report?

Before I show you my blog traffic and earnings for August 2016, let me tell you why I wanted to blog my income.

First, I always like to see my income progression from one month to another. When I say income, I mean to say income from anything related to blogging. I do not count my day job income, side hustles, and everything not related to blogging. This way, readers exactly know that this income report is just about blog income. You'll see survey money in this report. This survey money is affiliate money and not the money I earn from taking surveys.

Second, for many, I'm still pretty much a new blogger by many people’s standards. I’ve only been blogging for 7 months now and have had triumphs and failures (actually a lot) in those 7 months. Everything I did, do, and have done with my blog is all of my doing. If you see something off, then, that's my doing. If you see something nice, then, that's my doing. If you consistently visit my blog, you’ll see that it keeps on changing and it has a lot of flaws. I’m still figuring out what works best for me and my site.

Be one of the few who can start a blog for a special price of$2.95/month instead of the regular price of $7.99/month. This is a special price I negotiated with Bluehost just for my readers. That's 50% off of the regular price.

You will get a FREEdomain and a great customer service. Really, you are saving money when you use my link even before you publish your first post. That's a best a way to start your blogging journey.

Third, I want to show people that they can earn money through blogging. Before I even started blogging, I had heard a ton of bad comments about blogging, the worst of which was that it was a scam. I tell you that it is not a scam. I have earned more than $12K in 7 months just by sharing my personal experiences and thoughts about personal finance. Don't get me wrong, blogging is not easy. Don't expect to earn right off the bat. You need to put in your time, patience, and dedication to make blogging work for you.

Let's put it this way, if blogging was easy, then, everybody would be doing it. Having said that, you could earn a lot from blogging. Just put your heart, soul, and mind into it and you will see the benefit of blogging monetarily or non-monetarily speaking. I took a risk, paid around $100 to get my blog up and running, and it paid off. Now, I am earning like a full-time employee on a part-time basis. That's the first time I said those words.

Fourth, I like to be an inspiration to those who just started or are just starting with their blogging life. I never thought that it's possible to earn (extra) money this early on in my blogging life but it has happened. I know that it will continue to be better from here (hopefully). I want to share to the world that earning this early is possible regardless of how long one has been blogging.

I have to say that willingness, commitment, perseverance, and a lot of luck are what helped me and continuously help me with my blogging success. As my mother always say, it’s not what you always do but what’s inside you that help you become better.

Fifth, I believe in complete transparency. While I blog just about everything under the realm of personal finance and its never ending relationship with family and life, my blog is also monetary vehicle for my family. When you see advertisements on my blog posts, those are income-generating ads.

Are you thinking of starting your own blog but afraid to do it?

I was a new blogger and I felt the same exact feeling that you might be feeling right now. You are not alone in the boat. There are a lot of new bloggers who feel they don't know where to start, how to start, how to build audience, etc.

If you ask new bloggers, getting 30K page views is hard while getting 170K in such a short time is close to impossible but doable. I discuss the strategies that you can apply right now. Yes, you can apply these strategies without any blogging experience.

Is it only designed for new bloggers? Absolutely not. If you want to increase your blog page views, this is also for you.

You can avail this product for the price of $24.99. The regular price is $39.99. This e-book is your guide to getting the page view your blog deserves.

Tips for Bloggers

I have dealt and used ad networks to find the best of the best products to offer to my blog readers. I don't just apply and use the offers from these ad networks because I want to make sure I bring forth products that truly help my readers make money, save money, and manage their finances effectively.

It can be exhausting to find networks that will really help you and your blog propel to new heights especially when there are thousands of them over the internet and you can't figure out the right ones for you. If you are a publisher or a blogger and are looking for ad networks that work and pay out really well, I highly recommend the following ad networks.

I'm recommending them because I get positive reviews from my readers and my revenue from these ad networks are great (to say the least).

If you are in the personal finance niche and are looking for survey sites to add in your list of income-generating networks, then, IGain is for you. I have made over $2,000 over a few months with this ad network. The range of survey sites impeccable. The customer service it provides is beyond outstanding. I've worked with a lot of ad networks and IGain's customer service is, by far, the best.

If you are looking for exclusive offers, which can't be found anywhere else, then, IGain is for you.

In addition, one of the most exciting things about this ad network is that it offers games and promotions almost every month. Some of their past promotions included increased payouts, cash incentives, and Amazon gift cards.

I mainly used it for survey-related offers but it caters a wide range of niches. Some of niches include, but are not limited to, pets, family, books, health, beauty, entertainment, games, employment, education, and home.

I'll tell you that I'm not alone when I say I make a lot of money (i.e. commissions from Panthera). A friend blogger of mine who is in the fashion niche makes at least $600 a month through Panthera. Another friend of mine who is health and fitness makes around $900 a month.

August 2016 Income Report

August 2016 is the best month for me money and traffic wise. My blog income and traffic increased from July 2016 and it’s only my 7th month of blogging.

For those who have not read my first income report, I stated there that technically, I have been blogging since December of 2015 but did not market or tell anybody about my blog until the 28th of January. I kept it to myself (my very first mistake). So, I consider February as my official blogging start date. Again, it’s just FYI to avoid confusion.

I believe the reasons I earned this money are because of my determination and hard work to make blogging work and because of luck. I always put luck in the mix because I am still figuring out which strategy works.

Bluehost is the reason that I have a blog. I didn’t know anything about coding, WordPress, and other things related to blogging. With Bluehost, I was able to create my blog in 10 minutes or less. I took a chance and it paid off. I earned at least $8,500 even though I've only been blogging for 6 months. For $2.95/month, you have little or nothing to lose but, potentially, a ton to gain.

IGain: $161.50

IGain is one of my newest found treasures. I gain has exclusive survey companies that pay really well. If you are looking for other survey sites to try, you may want to stop by the following survey sites. These sites are handled by IGain.

EarningStation ($10 bonus after 5 site signups) – It is similar to Swagbucks in that you can earn by watching videos, taking surveys, using coupons, and shopping online.

VIP Voice Panel (Automatically enters you to $1,000 sweepstakes) – This survey is on a tiered reward system. What this means is that the more surveys you do, the more points you earn. You earn VIP points just by completing a survey. For your 1st survey, you can earn 3X the points. Sign up for VIP Voice Panel for FREE.

Harris Poll Online (Earn while you surf online) – You don’t earn cash with Harris Poll but you can earn rewards. Unlike many surveys that don't give you anything when you don't qualify for surveys, you will earn 15 HIpoints as well as entry into the HIstakes draw with Harris Poll Online. Sign up for Harris Poll Online is FREE.

Sage One: $200.00

I’ve been looking for a very user-friendly, cheap, and effective accounting software especially for my growing blogging business. You can sign up for Sage One for a 30-Day FREE TRIAL with NO CREDIT CARD required. I tell that Sage One is easier than using a spreadsheet (and I am an advanced-to-expert MS Excel user).Get started with Sage One. It won't cost you a penny!

Swagbucks is one my new affiliates though I’ve been using it as one of my search engines for some time now. Every month, my wife and I make $70, which is good for gas and some groceries. When you sign up via my link, you will receive $5 bonus right away.

TopCashback: $266.40

TopCashback is a portal that helps you earn money through purchases you make via the web. Like EBates, you have to go to TopCashback first and search for the store you like to go to. Once found, click the site and you’ll be directed to that store.

Google Adsense: $538.92

Media.net: $169.66

NewsMax: $65.81

Smart Asset: $80.00

Total: $4,014.49

What I Did and Didn’t Do

I decided to permanently include this section because I know a lot of my fellow bloggers and those who want to begin blogging would love to see what I did to earn money and increase my traffic as well as the things I didn’t do or failed to succeed on.

Did do

AOL. I was fortunate in that a representative from AOL emailed me a couple of weeks ago. She wanted me to be part of the personal finance community or section that AOL is in the process of establishing. What this means is that I may or will have the opportunity to write for AOL, advertise its products in my blog, get featured on AOL, among others. I'm still in the process of getting all the paperwork and back-end work done. But, I am so excited as I see this one as a big opportunity to reach a bigger platform for me and my family.

Pinterest Boards. My Pinterest collaborative boards has been gaining a lot of contributors. In the past week, at least 20 people became contributors. I consider it as an accomplishment because two months ago I started with only 10 or so contributors with 50 something pins for both of my collaborative boards . As of this writing, the statistics for these boards are:

Follow-up. The same thing I have done in the past months, that is, I followed up with people who needed help. When people asked me questions, I not only answered their questions but also offered help. I built relationship as a result. Better yet, this assistance converted into sign-ups for products that are promoted throughout my blog.

Website re-design. If you look at my blog, you’ll see changes on layout, placement of ads, among others from time to time. Since my blog is new and I’m new at blogging, I like to try what works best and doesn’t work for me. I know there are risks associated with this but I’m willing to try.

Did not do but should have done

Last month’s casualty, again, was my Twitter account. I've been busy with a lot of things about blogging, Pinterest, new affiliates, and others that I didn't get to pay attention to my Twitter. I know how critical to a blog Twitter is. However, this is where I failed this past month because I didn't pay a single attention to it. It's totally my fault.

Traffic

For the month of JAugst, I had 175,189 views, which is a 70.95% increase from last month’s 102,482 views.

I am so thrilled to see my traffic grow month by month. Much of the increase in traffic is due to my Pinterest traffic. I cannot stress enough how Tailwind has helped me achieve this growth is such as short time.

September 2016 Goals

I always believe in setting goals. Going through life, in general, without a goal is like walking on unending road without a foreseeable end in sight. The blogging goals I set for this July are both easy and challenging to achieve. So many reds here but overall, I like what I am seeing.

Page views. I want to see 7,000 views a day, at least. Maybe it’s impossible to achieve it but I will try my best to make it possible. (Aug Goal: 5,000/day ; Result: 5,651/day) – Succeed.

Income. I want to double my income for September. Yes, double the amount it is. (Aug Goal: Double my May’s income of over $3,430.00 ; Result: $4.,014.49) Didn't reach it. But, of course, I am more than happy to earn additional money.

Email subscribers. I like to have 600 subscribers by the end of September. (Aug Goal: 500 ; Result: 453) – Failed but close to the target.

Allan is a recognized personal finance expert and founder of The Practical Saver. His expertise has been featured in Business Insider, MSN, U.S. News and World Report, Yahoo Finance, NerdWallet, GoBankingRates, AOL Finance, CreditCards.com, HuffPost, Debt.com, Zillow, and Mass Mutual. Read more

Comments 22

I’ve been checking your site for days now waiting to see this post! Thanks for sharing this, Allan! Question for you though: with all of this traffic that you’re getting, do you have any plans to more aggressively promote affiliate products more closely related to the personal finance niche? The other stuff (bluehost, surveys, etc) is probably easier to convert but I would imagine you have the traffic to make more difficult (but higher paying) conversions happen.

Yes. I am going to dip my hands into that. I intend to do that once my traffic has been stable, which it has been for the past two months. Hopefully, by the time I get to my 1st year anniversary, I will have ventured into some of those affiliate products that are more closely related to personal finance niche.

I was wondering exactly the same thing, Jeff. As always, I’m very impressed by your rapid growth, Allan. The best part about it is that you’re still doing this to genuinely help people with their finances, not just turn a profit for yourself. That much is clear, as is your humility and transparency.

Thanks. Actually, I’m currently using some of the products I want to market. I have only been using them for a month and I just want to make sure that I’ve got at least 3 months worth of experience under my belt on those products before I can market them. I like to market products/services that I am familiar of and that I believe may benefit the readers. I will certainly create posts in a couple of months once I get a full grip of the products I have been using.

This is truly amazing results for a 7 month old blog. I have been following your journey as well as other newer bloggers journeys for the past few months (I recently started my own blog) and I am very inspired and impressed by your success so far. I foresee greatness from you!

Congrats on another great month! I’m super impressed that you’ve kept your expenses at 0 for the past few reports! I always love reading bloggers income reports but pay close attention to the expenses as well.

Yes. Because I always find ways to make things work on my own. I have been able to get a good handle with what I have had to do with my blog that I haven’t found the need to expend some money. I don’t think I’d be able to keep on doing that but for now I’m good.

Great progress! I’m curios about flexoffers. Do you have a post on that? Also, I do American Consumer Opinion and I am not making anywhere near that amount from them. Are you doing something other than taking surveys?

The American Consumer Survey I have in my blog income report is the commission I get when people sign up for ACOP. I don’t make that much just by taking surveys. Just a rough estimate, my wife and I make around $150 a month doing surveys. But the amount you are seeing in the report is just commission.

Right now, I don’t have a post on FlexOffers. Now that you mentioned it, I will surely craft a post in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for the ideas. I have gone through several networks and FlexOffers is the one that works best for me. I will definitely create a post on FlexOffers. Thanks for giving me that idea.

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About Allan Liwanag

Allan is a recognized personal finance expert and founder of The Practical Saver. He paid off his $40K and saved $70K, at the same, in 2.5 years under $39K/year salary.

His expertise has been featured in Business Insider, MSN, U.S. News and World Report, Yahoo Finance, NerdWallet, GoBankingRates, AOL Finance, CreditCards.com, HuffPost, Debt.com, Zillow, Mass Mutual, and various local media outlets. Read more

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ABOUT ME

I am Allan Liwanag – The Master of Practicality. My family was indebted for $40K in 2013. Five years forward, we have saved more than $400K. We did that with trick-less, simple, effective money management that most people tend to overlook.